Another horrible day for the major markets

The Times of Trenton – Stocks prices fell sharply again yesterday, ending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index below 1,000 for the first time since 2003 on speculation banks and real-estate companies are running short of money as the credit crisis worsens.

Bank of America tumbled 26 percent after cutting its dividend in half and saying it plans to sell $10 billion in common stock to brace for a recession. Morgan Stanley, KeyCorp and JPMorgan Chase slid more than 10 percent as investors shrugged off signs the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates. General Growth Properties, a mall owner, plunged 42 percent on concern it won’t be able to repay debt.

"We’ve approached the edge of the cliff," Leon Cooperman, 65, who manages $6 billion at hedge fund Omega Advisors, said at the Value Investing Congress in New York. "Do we go over the cliff or begin to recede? History says we recede, but there’s no guarantee.